Uh, another teen horror film? After the parodies of "Scary Movie" and its sequel had seemingly put an end to the kind of silliness that these films had turned into, there were a few more that still leaked out - cinematic "runoff", in a way. Although "Valentine" certainly wasn't that successful when it came to theaters early this year, in a way it actually was. These cheaply produced horror flicks, although certainly in no way memorable, still eek out a profit. This film in particular made 20 million dollars and only cost 10.

"Valentine" takes one slightly different turn, but overally generally remains the same as the other pictures in the genre. Pretty WB-looking stars get stalked; a prologue shows the tale of a young man named Jeremy Milton who gets made fun of and dumped on (literally - the kids dump the entire bowl of punch on his head). The bullying and anger he gets from his fellow classmates sets him over the edge. Years later, Kate (Marley Shelton), Paige (Denise Richards), Dorothy (Jessica Capshaw), and Lily (Jessica Cauffiel) come to the funeral of friend Shelly (Katherine Heigl), who was taken out by a guy wearing a cupid mask. Soon after, the girls get valentines with the initals "JM" on them. Is it the guy who they made fun of on Valentine's day all othose years ago? Is it the cop that's investigating? Is it a ghost? Is it Denise Richards' acting coach? Wait, that last one never existed.

Although one doesn't usually expect directors to be typecast, Jamie Blanks has tried to make a name for himself directing teen horror, a genre that doesn't really make for directing fame with only a couple of exceptions. "Legend" didn't generate much suspense and neither does "Valentine". Pacing is often slack - few moments generate tension, but they're in-between long stretches of conversation - and let me say that the coversation involved in this genre isn't ever too interesting, especially here, after four writers came up with - not much. The acting is decent, but not above what you would expect from the genre. Denise Richards again proves that an Oscar is not in her future as she plays her "Wild Things" role again, but she's supported decently by Marley Shelton ("Sugar and Spice"), Jessica Capshaw (Steven Spielberg's daughter) and Cauffiel. David Boreanaz is a wrong choice, appearing rather bored throughout his scenes in the film.

Visually fairly slick, cinematographer Rick Bota makes the film look rather like Andrej Bartowiak's work in "Gossip", with heavy colors and fine compositions. "Gossip" was a bit more striking visually, but it's still respectable work and one of the very few positive features of the film.

"Valentine" may have been somewhat profitable, but it's also quite predictable and I found little about it to be entertaining or basically enjoyable. Hopefully this will be the last effort in this genre for a while because it's really run its course.